Tucson border humanitarian among those in Israeli prison after flotilla interception

Tucson, Arizona – A man with ties to Tucson is among those detained in an Israeli prison after the boat he was captaining on its way to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli forces last week. 

Logan Hollarsmith, a San Francisco native and a volunteer with No More Deaths in southern Arizona, an organization that leaves water, clothes, food and blankets in the Sonoran Desert and does rescue searches for crossing migrants, was one of hundreds of activists sailing toward Gaza with humanitarian aid. 

He is expected to be deported from Israel in the next 24 hours, Hollarsmith’s mother, Sidney Hollar, told CALÓ News on Monday.

Her son was captain of the Ohwayla vessel, a crew that included U.S. military veterans, Al Jazeera journalists and a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, Hollar said. The recent flotilla was intercepted on Oct. 2 in international waters, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla website. Among the participants was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. 

The Global Sumud Flotilla is a coalition of organizers, humanitarians, doctors, lawyers, artists, clergy and seafarers from across the world working to end Israel’s siege and bring aid to Palestinians. Several attempts have been made this year to penetrate Israel’s ongoing blockade on Gaza, where the ongoing Israeli siege on Palestinians has drawn global criticism from the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

Since 2008, flotillas from global organizations have attempted to break the blockade of Gaza. Since 2010, all flotillas have been intercepted.

“I called the U.S. Embassy, either yesterday or the day before, and they said, quote, ‘We can't help.’” Hollar said in an interview with CALÓ News over the weekend. “This is the United States embassy in Israel, mind you.”

They referred her to the Overseas Citizen Services, an office within the Department of State. The person she talked to there told her Hollarsmith would be able to call her that day.  

Hollarsmith’s boat intercepted

Hollarsmith was the right person for the role as he has a calm demeanor and extensive sailing experience, Hollar said. A few days before leaving the U.S., he told his mom and sisters he was flying to Barcelona to join the flotilla. He was one of almost 500 people selected out of 23,000 applicants, Hollar said. 

He would send updates in a 250-member group chat and photos of their journey. Hollar choked up as she retells how she found out they might be in danger. 

In an update, he told Hollar he was making her the administrator of the chat. Hollar is a criminal defense attorney. “My crew has decided you’re the one,” Hollarsmith told her. 

The day Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla, she noticed her messages weren’t being read. She watched the boat’s livestream; the signal was going in and out. 

“And then I got a text from the vets saying, ‘we've lost contact with them,’” Hollar said. “Their GPS is turned off. The other boats can't see them. We're not sure what's happening.” 

Each participant had an SOS button. When pressed, the person’s emergency contact got a phone call. On Thursday morning, Hollar got that call, saying Hollarsmith’s SOS had been activated. 

As of late Sunday night, Hollar had still not heard from her son. By then, 340 of the more than 400 flotilla participants had been deported and arrived in various countries including Istanbul, Italy and Spain. 

The 462 flotilla participants “were forced to kneel with their hands zip-tied for at least five hours, after some participants chanted, ‘free Palestine,’” according to a news release from NGO Adalah, the legal center representing the flotilla participants. 

The participants were later taken to Ktzi’ot Prison, known for torturing and abusing Palestinian prisoners. Participants have reported going without food while they were detained, being given unsanitary water to drink and their medication being taken away. Many were processed in immigration court before they were given the chance to see a lawyer, Adalah said in a statement.

“The participants confirmed to the lawyers that widespread assault and violence occurred during their transfer from the port to the prison,” Adalah said in its most recent statement Sunday night.

The Israeli government denied the allegations. In a Facebook post, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to the claims as “fake news.” 

“All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld. The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign,” the statement read.

On Monday morning, Hollar called the U.S. Embassy in Israel again and was told the remaining American participants would be deported within 24 hours.

At the U.S.-Mexico border and in Gaza: ‘A fight for freedom of movement’

Hollarsmith would not want news stories to focus on him, Hollar said. 

“What Logan would want the story to be about is to stop the genocide,” Hollar said. “To stop the starvation, to open up the humanitarian corridor, to bring humanitarian aid, to recognize Palestine and to stop our government's complicity with Israel.”

Aryanna Tischler, a friend of Hollarsmith’s who has worked with him at No More Deaths, agreed that the flotilla participants would want the focus to remain on Palestine. 

“The intention of the flotilla was to open up a port for humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza, to break the siege,” Tischler said. 

As the flotilla made its way to Gaza before being intercepted, Israel continued to displace and kill people in Gaza City, she said. Last week, Israel said Gaza City and Gaza’s north were “still considered a dangerous combat zone” despite President Donald Trump demanding that Israel stop bombing the area, Al Jazeera reported. 

“We just can't lose sight of the focus, which is the liberation of Palestinians and the end of the genocide,” Tischler said. 

Hollar and Tischler also see the connection between the work Hollarsmith does in the borderlands and the flotilla’s attempt to deliver aid to Gaza. 

“I think at No More Deaths, we see the struggle between what's going on in Gaza and what's happening in the Borderlands deeply connected,” Tischler said.

Similar technology is used to monitor people’s movement in Israel and along the border, Tischler said. Border Patrol and other Department of Homeland Security agents train alongside Israeli forces.Palantir Technologies, Inc., a data analysis company that is building a surveillance platform for ICE, also partners with Israel on “war-related missions.”

“We've been watching a genocide happen for two years and, I mean, realistically, even longer than that, in Palestine,” Tischler said. “I think that for a lot of people, especially people of conscience and people who are so rooted in fighting for a better world, you know, it makes sense to try to do something that feels possible, that feels like it could be a step forward for oppressed peoples.”

Hollar said in both situations — migrants fleeing from dangerous conditions in their home country and coming to the U.S. and the genocide of Palestinian people — the U.S. is causing the problems and ordinary people are trying to find solutions. 

“It's ordinary people doing what our politicians refuse to do,” she said. “And it shows what ordinary people can do. If they band together, they can make a difference. The whole world is watching this right now.”

Stephanie Casanova is an independent journalist from Tucson, Arizona, covering community stories for 10 years. She is passionate about narrative, in-depth storytelling that is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the communities she covers. She recently covered the criminal justice beat at Signal Cleveland, where she shed light on injustices and inequities in the criminal legal system and centered the experiences of justice-involved individuals, both victims and people who go through the system and their impacted loved ones.